


Stars Will Never Fall

by ephemerality



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: F/M, Gen, did i hear someone ask for a bnha any au, for my lovely and amazing wifey @carrotcouple, happy super fuckin beelated bday my love, i'm gonna pretend like i did bc i wrote one and you're gonna get it whether you want it or not, this is the longest fucking thing i've ever written in my life holy shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 06:25:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12227397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ephemerality/pseuds/ephemerality
Summary: Peace, he always said,is the most important thing. But looking at these cruel, awful people, attacking the innocents of the Water Tribe, besieging them, causing suffering, all to place her father's crown on the head of his murderer, she thinks they could do with a little violence.





	Stars Will Never Fall

**Author's Note:**

> my super fuckin beelated birthday present for my beautiful Kija-like wifey [@carrotcouple](http://carrotcouple.tumblr.com/)!!!!!! yes this is a month late no i don't have any excuses  
> this is also unbeta'd! so if y'all see any mistakes, or if there's a scene y'all would like to see that i didn't write or didn't cover much, please don't hesitate to let me know!  
> and yes i did change some stuff. since these are bnha characters, not any ones, i figured they wouldn't make exactly the same choices that the original ones did. also some of these are things i wish were canon. so. enjoy!  
> for the record you don't have to be in both fandoms for this to make sense, although that will help
> 
> title comes from [Stars by Arrows to Athens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VasRIrXkqYE), but this fic was also heavily influenced by [Believe (Waiting for an Answer) by The Afters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s8YmVHNKG8) and [One More Light by Linkin Park](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1LdQntDnFY) i highly recommend all three songs  
> 

The world around her is bright. Not as bright as it could be, if, say, she was allowed to shoot with the boys. But she gets to watch, at least, so she counts it as a win.

 _He's here_ , her heart sings. _He came, just for my birthday. Just for me._

"Princess!" he calls from by the archery targets, as if he could read her mind, and knew instinctively that she was thinking about him. _Always so formal_. "Would you like to try?"

"No!" her father shouts, but she's already halfway down the steps, tugging at her dress to keep from tripping as she runs across to him. Beside him, her guard grumbles that she'd make a serving girl than princess, running to and fro like that. And yet he's already sliding off his horse, bending down to make a step with his hands. She tosses her head back haughtily, accepting his help like it's beneath her, even though she'd never be able to climb up on the horse on her own. Arms wrap around her, keeping her from falling, and she leans back ever-so-slightly against a warm chest.

" _You'd_ make a better horse than servant, with a face like that." She knows it's a schoolchild's response, but those always work on him anyway. He glares, standing back up and dusting off his clothes. Laughter vibrates through her, not hers but _his_ , and the feeling makes her cheeks pink. All of a sudden she feels ridiculous for running out here, and tries to think of something to say, to dispel the awkward atmosphere.

Her guard swings back on his horse, giving her a knowing look that she deliberately ignores. "Shall we?"

Her father is watching anxiously from the steps, like he's afraid she'll be hurt, but also afraid that he'll be hurt if he goes out there. Even from here, the look on his face is clear. _Please come back. Please stay safe._

She nods to him, regally, acknowledging but not acquiescing, and turns her face away. "We shall."

_I'm not a coward, All Might. Not like you._

 

~*~*~

 

He's dead.

He's laying there on the ground and he's dead and she called him a coward not only in her head but to his face and he's dead and Deku is standing above his body with a bloody sword and he's dead and the last things she ever said to him were words of hate and he's _dead_ and--

"I had no choice," the former love of her life says, but his eyes betray the truth, and her father is still dead.

The guards come crashing through the doors, and he's still dead.

_Please come back._

They turn their weapons on her, and she runs out of the room blindly, gasping for breath and unsure of where she can go and whom she can trust, and he's still dead.

_Please stay safe._

She falls in the dirt, surrounded by the swords of the people who used to protect her, staring up at the man she used to think might have loved her, not moving an inch to defend her own life, and he's still dead.

_We're both cowards, Daddy._

He's dead, and she's alone, betrayed, about to join him.

Lightning strikes, and then she's not.

 

~*~*~

 

She scrabbles around in the mud like a beggar, because that's what she is now, a beggar. She has to beg for food, and shelter, and at the mercy of the guard that she didn't really want in the first place, but who was assigned to her by her father, her father who is _dead_ and she's here digging in the dark for a birthday gift from his murderer.

The shame isn't enough to stop her, though, and she keeps going until the unwanted guard himself kneels down next to her. She hadn't even noticed he was there. How long has been watching? Did he just stare while she dug, breaking nails and bleeding fingers, in places that she knew the hairpin probably wasn't, but she couldn't stop? In that moment, she hates him. White hot rage surges through her blood, and when he touches her shoulder, says, "Princess," in the softest tone she's ever heard him use, she lashes out, unthinking. She feels skin beneath her hands and she _scratches_ with what's left of her nails, shoving at him, kicking, screaming but she can't hear her own voice. She can't hear his voice. She can't hear anything, she's drowning in imaginary water.

Through it all he only holds her. Rubbing his thumb hard across her wrist, rocking back and forth, humming an old lullaby, trying to bring her back. Thinking back on it is strange, because he's the type to hit back, no matter who you are, and he really should have at least gotten angry, because none of this was even his fault. Yet all he did was catch her wrists, pull her close, and hold her.

No--not hold. _Cling._ He clings to her, as if she is all she had left, and in a way, she is. But she's so caught up in herself that she didn't notice. She takes all the comfort he offered and gave none in return.

"I have nothing," she sobs into his chest. "Where will I go? What will I do? None of it even matters anymore. I have nothing."

"You have me," Katsuki whispers, but she gives no indication of whether or not she heard.

 

~*~*~

 

The wind tribe is nice. Pretending to be Katsuki's lady lover? Not so much.

It was a good cover, admittedly, though not one she would've chosen. But they're safe, and she feels her heart starting to mend here. She feels loved. She could stay here, she thinks, despite knowing she can't. She laughs with the children, hangs laundry with the women, teases Katsuki. But even here, there are limits. Reminders.

The children coo over her hair, _ooh_ ing and _ahh_ ing and asking to touch it. The women nudge and wink when Katsuki walks by, smiling knowingly when her eyes follow him, thinking all the wrong things, not understanding that it's reassuring to know that she's not the only one who was _there_ , that she's not the only one who _remembers_ , that she's not the only one that keeps asking, _why, why, why._

And then there's Katsuki himself.

She's beginning to realize that there are many more sides to him than just her guard. He's the big brother to all the children, the well-behaved if a bit snarky gentleman to the adults. He's the best warrior _ever_ , and _super_ handsome, according to little Sunny. And he's the next leader of the Wind Tribe, unchallenged and unquestioned. She wonders what in Kouka they're talking about. She wouldn't trust Katsuki to lead her out of a paper bag, although that belief is slowly beginning to change. Her beliefs about a lot of things are slowly beginning to change.

Her father's rule, for example. _Peace,_ he always said, _is the most important thing._ But looking at these cruel, awful people, attacking the innocents of the Water Tribe, besieging them, causing suffering, all to place her father's crown on the head of his murderer, she thinks they could do with a little violence.

 

~*~*~

 

(She calls him Kacchan once. She and Deku used to call him that all the time, and at some point she'd stopped, but Deku never had. She doesn't know why she does it. It just slips out. But his entire face goes white, and his whole body tenses, and he whispers, "Don't call me that, please," and she's known him her whole life but it's the first time she remembers ever hearing him say please.

Deep inside, the flickers of fury start to ignite.)

 

~*~*~

 

"But I want you!" she shouts, and she knows she sounds like a spoiled little princess again, but everything else has failed and he's the only one she needs. Everyone else is trying to kill her or bring her to Deku -- no, _Izuku_. She finds it easier to reconcile the person she once loved with the person he is now when she uses his given name instead of the childhood nickname they'd bestowed him -- but Katsuki has sworn to her that he would protect her with his life, and gods help her, for better or worse she believes him.

He stares at her, shock clear on his face. There's something else in his eyes though, and if she were to give it a name, she might call it pride.

He collapses on the ground in front of her, burying his face in his hands, muttering to himself about stupid princesses and suicidal tendencies, and for a moment she's flooded with panic, terrified that he's going to say no and she's going to be all alone.

" _Ugh_ , fine."

She blinks, confused.

He looks up at her through his fingers, like he can't believe he's saying this. "I'll go with you, princess."

She's overcome with relief, but all she manages is, "I knew you'd come around."

He scoffs, and looks like he might say something else, but is interrupted by an enraged cry of " _Bastard!"_

He startles, whipping his head up to see none other than Mitsuki, pointing a trembling arrow at him.

_"Mom, what are you doing?!"_

"I saw what you said to the princess!" Mitsuki hollers. "You indecent brat! I thought I raised you better!"

 _Is that red in his cheeks?_ It is. She watches with great interest as the blush spreads across the tips of his ears and down the back of his neck. She can't tell if he's angry or embarrassed or both, but she has to admit it's fun to see him this way.

"I was trying to keep her safe here, old hag," he grumbles, with not nearly as much heat as she'd expected. Maybe he's more tired than he's been letting on.

Mitsuki scoffs, much like Katsuki had a moment ago. "Safe in your _bed_ , maybe."

_Will you pay me with your body?_

She flushes darkly, fanning her face and looking intently at the ground in…shame? No. She doesn't know what to call it. Her body feels warm and tingly, and she suspects Katsuki feels much the same, though he'd never admit it.

Katsuki sputters in pure indignation, but his collarbones are just barely visible above his robes. She sees his blush turning them a pretty shade of pink, and smiles.

 

~*~*~

 

She doesn't know which she's more afraid of. Katsuki dying, or his death being her fault. Just the thought of it is enough to make her want to lay down and never get up, so she doesn't think at all.

In hindsight, she probably should've done something besides demand that Monoma stop his men. Maybe whacked him over the head with a tree branch of something. That might've been easier for sure.

 _But then_ , she muses, _I couldn't see the look on his face._

She supposes Monoma looks afraid because this isn't the way he remembers her. She had been much more…shy, when they'd first met. _Kitten_ , Monoma had called her. She is not a kitten now.

"Idiot!" Katsuki screams from the cliff. He's hanging over the edge. He's going to die. She runs towards him.

And a hand grabs her hair.

Monoma yanks her back, trying to keep her away from Katsuki. _No._

"We'll go back to the Fire Tribe, princess!" Monoma says excitedly, desperately. Below, the men are jeering at Katsuki. _No._

"Deku stole your throne, we know that!" One of them is kicking at Katsuki's fingers, forcing them off the rocks. _No._

"We'll get it back for you!" Katsuki's hand slips. _No._

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the sharp glint of steel. Monoma's sword, still in its scabbard. She yanks it out and slices off her hair, like the blush of dawn, without a second thought.

 

~*~*~

 

("You can't die! I won't forgive you!"

His eyes are wide and her tears are on his face and they're falling, falling. She barely notices the way Katsuki wraps himself around her, shielding her from the branches and the impact as much as he can. She barely notices Monoma, collapsed on the edge of the cliff, staring at her in shock and horror, clutching at her cut-off hair.)

 

~*~*~

 

She wakes to orange juice, being squeezed in her mouth straight from the fruit itself.

"Oh, you're not dead! That's good. How are you feeling?"

She blinks slowly, senses coming back to life as the boy above her comes into focus. "Katsuki?"

He shakes his head, and of course he's not. His hair is too dark, his skin too light, his eyes too kind to be Katsuki. "I assume you mean your boyfriend who fell with you. He's resting over there," he points somewhere on the other side of the small room. It _is_ a relatively small room, she notes. Although she can't be sure. Her idea of _relatively small_ is someone else's idea of _giant palace._

"He took the brunt of the impact," the boy continues nonchalantly, like two severely injured people weren't camping out in his house. Abruptly, she realizes that she knows nothing about him, not even his name. Maybe this isn't even his house. "Probably in an attempt to protect you. But he made it through the night, so I expect him to make a full recovery. Would you like to sit up, princess?"

She nods, and he slides a hand between her back and the blankets she's lying on, helping her up. His touch is careful, clinical. He keeps supporting her even after she's upright, and she's grateful. Then it hits her, what he called her, and her blood turns to ice.

"How do you know who I am?" she demands, wishing she didn't sound quite so weak.

"My apologies." He sounds genuinely contrite. "I'm Tenya, beautiful boy genius, at your service. My brother Tensei is a seer. He knew you would come to ask for guidance after what happened to you."

"What happened to me," she repeats, not asking, just copying Tenya's exact tone.

He moves the hand on her back in a small circle. It's most likely meant to be comforting, but it comes off as awkward and unsure, and for some reason she feels a sudden rush of fondness for this stranger who saved them. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

There's something else, that he's not saying, but she's not sure she wants to know, so she simply smiles and thanks him.

 

~*~*~

 

"Find the dragons," Tensei suggests, when he stops falling over his feet adorably. She's surprised, but not ungrateful when he also suggests that Tenya accompany them.

"I can't leave you!" the younger boy argues. "You'll die without me."

The seer only smiles, eyes peeking through his bangs to meet his brother's. "You," he says, in a voice far wiser than one would expect, given his age and appearance, "have been blessed with such knowledge, and such beauty, and such _life_. The world is so much more than this run-down cottage, in this run-down town, taking care of your clumsy, run-down brother. You told me you wanted to see all of it, and baby brother, _this_ is your chance. They need you, and you need them. Go."

"I can't leave you," Tenya whispers, already slumped in defeat.

"You must." Tensei's tone brooks no argument. Tenya goes.

He seems different to her now, more human. He cried, hugging his brother goodbye. She wants to believe she can trust someone like that.

 

~*~*~

 

("Shoot," he says harshly, standing in front of a tree. "Shoot at me. Shoot like you're shooting at _him_."

Her arrow slices his cheek and thuds into the tree.

"I hate this side of you," she whispers, and walks away.)

 

~*~*~

 

The white dragon is relatively easy to find. They just follow the enraged cries of their kidnapped, self-proclaimed "beautiful genius" and there he is, sitting in a cage in the center of the town, fuming. Katsuki laughs harder than she feels is strictly necessary, but she has to admit it is a little funny.

Then the white dragon herself falls at her feet, proclaiming her undying loyalty and wish to serve, and suddenly she doesn't feel like laughing.

It's scary, having someone blindly follow her like that. She'd had that kind of privilege before, as a princess, people doing what she said simply because of who she was, but never like this. Never because they were bound to her by blood, because they _wanted_ to. Or did they even really want to? She has no idea, but she can't let herself think about it right now.

(But she finds herself remembering it, the way her soul looked into their soul and she thought, _finally, she's here, the first missing piece of me that I didn’t know was missing._ )

Katsuki comes storming up to her, all worked up in a fury, and her thoughts shift to annoyance. What is he upset about now? Did a baby take his candy?

The image is especially funny to her because she can absolutely imagine a baby tugging at the candy, and Katsuki tugging back at it, trying not to hurt them but also getting increasingly more agitated because it's _his candy_ and he's really very attached to his candy. If anyone would seriously fight with a baby over candy, it would be Katsuki. He would lose, though, she decides, not for lack of trying, but because the baby would start screaming and he would panic and run away. _That_ image is downright hysterical, but the expression on Katsuki's face as he approaches isn't a laughing one, so she channels her Royal Expression of Blankness.

Beside him is Tsuyu, the white dragon, whose loveliness leaves her quite tongue-tied. She also looks enraged, if not more so, than Katsuki. Leave it to her idiot guard to pick a fight with the newest member of their team a mere few minutes after they met. Why had she brought him along again?

"Princess! Please tell your guard dog that his services are no longer required. I can protect you just fine!"

"Shut up, white snake! She's not stupid enough to get rid of me!" She realizes he's literally jingling with every movement. Does he have a bag of gold in his shirt?

She squints. He has a bag of gold in his shirt.

"She doesn't need you now! She has me!"

_I have nothing._

_You have me_.

She throws herself at Katsuki, latching onto his arm. "No! I can't do this without Katsuki! I won't!"

The ensuing silence is enough for her to realize the implication of her words, but not enough for make her regret them. Then Katsuki turns away, laughter dark with triumph, and she steals the bag of gold, handing it back to Tsuyu, who sighs.

"As you wish, princess."

 

~*~*~

 

(She can tell that Tsuyu is ill at ease with Katsuki and Tenya, yet her only complaints are the bugs. Tsuyu, she realizes, seems to know that her situation is difficult enough as it is, and is going out of her way to ease her burden. Making some kind of peace with Katsuki, helping Tenya gather plants for cooking and medicine. Sometimes she feels kind blue eyes on her, and she feels a bit like she has a guardian angel, watching out for her. She rather likes the feeling.)

 

~*~*~

 

(She knows that he's trying to be subtle, but she can feel Katsuki's eyes on her, watchful and approving. Her arrow thuds into the tree. She hears Tsuyu's voice, Katsuki hushing her. Tsuyu seems shocked that she would be out here so late at night, shooting arrows at a tree, but Katsuki sounds proud. Proud that she would rather be out here, practicing, teaching herself to protect and defend, instead of sleeping.

Another arrow hits the tree. She's only been out here for a few hours, but her legs and back are already beginning to ache. Her arms tremble slightly as she draws the bowstring back. Her hands are red and raw. She's got a long way to go before she ever matches his level of skill, but she's going to get there.)

 

~*~*~

 

The blue dragon is significantly harder to find in comparison. Their village is awful, full of hatred and anger and _fear_ , though if she had to guess she'd say the blue dragon is the most hated, the least angry and the most afraid. The thought causes something ugly to build in her chest, and she only has to look at her friends to know that she's not the only one.

She knows it's him instinctively, like a pull in her chest. _The second missing piece._ She was lost, and he found her almost immediately, like he'd known where she was and would rush to her aid, but was afraid to be a burden by sticking around. His hand is warm, and gentle, not pulling her, just showing her the way, and she knows in her heart that this boy would never hurt anyone.

And then he's gone, and all she knows is that she can't leave a sweet soul like him in a hell like this.

"I'll be back," she tells Katsuki. "I need to talk to him."

Katsuki squints at her. "What if he doesn't wanna talk to you?"

"He does," she asserts. "He's just afraid. I just need to show him there's nothing to be afraid of."

He can obviously tell that she's trying to convince herself as much as him, and rolls his eyes. But then he squats down in front of her, bringing his forehead to rest against hers. "Come back," he says quietly, and she's very confused. He must be way more worried then he's been letting on, if he's being this open and touchy-feely.

"I will," she promises, and he stands up. As she walks away she hears Tsuyu tell Katsuki, "We'll protect her with our lives," and she struggles to breathe. They're not going to die. Not for her.

 

~*~*~

 

The cave-in terrifies her far more than she's willing to admit. Her skin is crawling with _out out we need to get out right now out_ but she stays strong for her dragons. For her dragons, she attacks the rocks with a dagger. For her dragons, she smiles and continues until she starts to feel lightheaded and then she falls.

She isn't the least bit surprised when she falls into warm fur, and a squirrel hops up on her shoulder. Really, she should be, but she'd known he would catch her. She feels safe in these arms, secure. She looks up at his masked face. _How can they hate him so?_

He carries her to his part of the cave, where there's more air. Tenya follows, pressing two fingers to her wrist after she's sitting down. The squirrel nuzzles at her cheek in an attempt to make her feel better.

"Will you be okay here?" Tenya asks. "I have to go back so we can keep digging."

She nods. In a way, fortune has smiled on her; she wanted a chance to talk to her blue dragon. Then it's just her and him and the squirrel.

"Tokoyami," he murmurs, and the squirrel perks up instantly, running across her lap to him. He picks it up with careful but familiar hands, as if they'd been together for years.

"Is that his name?" she can't help but ask, and he nods, not looking up at her. "I like it."

He ducks his head, and she bets if the mask weren't there, she would see a blush on his cheeks. "I'm Yona. What's your name?"

He shakes his head. For a moment she's confused, but then it hits her like a ton of rocks. "You don't have a name?"

He nods, clearly pleased that she understood so quickly.

_All this time I've been living in a palace and he doesn’t even have a name._

Her vision blurs with tears, but she doesn't let them fall.

 

~*~*~

 

(Little does she know that on the other side of the rocks, Katsuki is doing the same. _Please don't take her away from me yet, All Might. Please let me have her a little while longer._ )

 

~*~*~

 

"Will you come with us?" She tries not to put any emotion into those words, wanting him to make his own choice, but standing there, her hand reached out to him, she's overcome with the fear that he'll say no.

He slides his hand into hers, and she can feel the warmth of his smile through the mask. Tokoyami squeaks approvingly from his shoulder.

 

~*~*~

 

("Hitoshi," she whispers like a revelation. The moon shines down on them, lying there on the hill together with Tokoyami curled up between them, giving her just enough light to read his body language by. It's the forty-second name she's suggested. "How does that sound?"

Hitoshi turns his head to look at her, and after a moment, he nods. He seems lighter to her now, a little more at peace. She hopes his new name has something to do with it.)

 

~*~*~

 

It's not that the port town is in ruins so much as the people are. Crooked cops, rampant crime, drug addicts and kidnapped little girls all paint an awful picture that she can't stand. She tries to believe that her father didn't know this was happening. She tries to believe she can make a difference.

So when Katsuki shouts, " _That's the green dragon!_ " and bolts off, she bolts right after him.

Of course, she and Tenya aren't demon warriors like Katsuki and Tsuyu, so by the time they catch up, the green dragon is sitting in the middle of the road, his butt stuck in a ceramic pot that's sitting up on Tsuyu's shoulder like it weighs nothing. Katsuki is standing there, shouting and swearing at the green dragon. Is that even the green dragon at all?

He says something that makes Tsuyu turn pink, and drop him like a sack of hot potatoes, and the pot shatters, freeing him. He turns to her as she approaches, and she knows.

_It's him._

He's absolutely horrified. She can tell because he doesn’t even try to hide it. He looks a bit like he's going to be sick, but mostly there's just a huge amount of fear in his eyes. That's the one thing she never wanted: to find the missing pieces of her soul, and have them be afraid of her.

"Hello," she says carefully, and he startles, visibly forcing himself to put up a façade. She wants to cry.

"What a lovely lady! Pity I can't stay, or else we'd be fast acquainted." He winks, convincing to everyone else but her.

"You already know who she is," Tsuyu says, and his shoulders tense.

"Do I really?" he asks, still feigning indifference. "A person is more than the fate they've been chained to by destiny. A person is more than their first impression. I don't know her. I don't even know her name."

"Occhako."

He stares at her, mouth agape.

"My name is Occhako," she tells him. "What's yours?"

She sees the moment that his panic overtakes him completely. He runs. He smashes the pot with his dragon leg, and he leaps across rooftops. Gone.

 

~*~*~

 

The little boy is the last straw.

He's lying there, in the rubble that was once his home, so _little_ , and there's so much blood and his parents are sobbing and _no one is coming to help them_ and he's dead, there's blood everywhere and _he's dead_ \--

Katsuki sees it before anyone else, the moment her shock and sorrow are burned away by her white hot _fury_. She is _furious_. He of all people should understand, he had been there, he knew exactly what this would remind her of. He starts to say her name. She's not sure if it's to stop her or help her. She doesn't wait long enough to find out.

Whether she sits on the throne or not, they're her _people_ , people she has a duty to protect and serve, people who don't deserve to lie crumpled on the floor of their ruined home and cry over the sack of blood and bone that was once their child. Making sure this never happens again is more important than finding her dragons. Making sure this never happens again is more important than anything.

"I will avenge your son," she says. "I will make this stop."

It isn't enough. But it's all she can do now.

 

~*~*~

 

(The people are all too willing to tell her who's at fault. Who runs the drug empire that's destroying this town. Who sends men to ravage the people. Who allows innocents to suffer, who revels in it.

 _Endeavor,_ they whisper the name, voices brimming with hatred and pain and a good amount of fear. _His name is Endeavor_.)

 

~*~*~

 

He comes back.

"Eijirou," he announces with a sweeping bow. He seems much more in control now. A wave of nostalgia rippled through her, for the man she had met before. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Occhako." A dangerous smile. "I'd like to buy your man."

Katsuki _explodes_ behind her, swearing and yelling about how he's not someone to be _bought_ and how he's not going anywhere with some _pervert_. Everyone ignores him.

"If you want him, then we're all coming," she says smoothly, and Eijirou squints. For a moment she's terrified he'll say no, and is careful to keep it off her face.

It's almost like he can sense it anyway, because he backs down immediately with an exaggerated sigh. "If my lady insists."

She smiles. Something flashes on his face, slow enough for her to see but fast enough that she can't tell what it is.

"So, Lady Occhako." A dangerous smile. "How would you like to be a pirate?"

 

~*~*~

 

As it turns out, she's the only one who's completely useless. She's also the only one they won't leave behind.

"If Occhako doesn't come, we don't come," Katsuki says firmly. Tsuyu backs him up one hundred percent. Hitoshi hovers over Katsuki's other shoulder, hand on his sword. Tenya holds her hand protectively, ready to run at a moment's notice. Tokoyami hisses threateningly from on top of her head. Even Eijirou is standing half in front of her, mildly alarmed. And the lead pirate--well. At first glance he seems bored and tired, but there's something sharp in his eyes. Something that gives her hope.

She doesn't know his name. He hasn't deemed her worth introducing himself to. Yet.

"Fine then," he says. "But you'll have to prove yourself first."

"Of course." She can do this. She _can_ do this. She can _do_ this.

He points to a cave, high up on the steep side of the cliff by the pirates' ship, overlooking a long fall into the rocky ocean. "You see that?" she nods. "Flowers grow there. We use them for medicine. Our normal climber got himself injured in a raid."

"Is he alright?" she asks, and he stares at her for a moment.

"He's fine. Go up there. Bring me flowers. Without help."

Tenya's panicked screaming, Katsuki's instant refusal, Tsuyu's demand for him to reconsider, all barely register in her mind. Not so much as the way Hitoshi's steadying hand slips into hers, the way Eijirou sidles up to her, eyes filled with worry, trying and failing to be subtle.

"Can you do this?" Eijirou murmurs, and--is that hope in his voice? Does he want her to stay with him?

The answer is clear when he touches her arm, carefully. He does. He truly does. And that alone is enough.

"Yes," she murmurs back, fear held somewhat at bay by Hitoshi's quiet reassurance. "I can."

 

~*~*~

 

Okay, so maybe this wasn't such a great idea.

The wind is a lot stronger than she expected, whipping at her eyes and her cheeks, tugging at her ankles. Trying to bring her down. Tokoyami hides inside the shoulder of her cloak. He had been inside her hood, next to her face, squeaking to cheer her on, but then the wind had blown the hood off her head, and he'd run for her shoulder instead.

It's also a lot higher than it looked from way down there. She's never been one to fear heights, but it's the fall that's scary, all that way down. She would be cut up by the rocks, eaten by whatever's down there in the waters. She can't go out that way. She can't. Not yet.

There was a split second, a while back, where she considered turning back. No one would blame her. Katsuki said as much. _"Don't risk your life for some pirate's little game, you absolute fool. This is suicide, especially for you. No one would blame you if you changed your mind."_

It's the _especially for you_ that made her angry. She's not any less capable than they are. She's not any less strong. She can do anything she puts her mind to, and she has put her mind to this.

But for a split second, when the wind grabbed her foot and _pulled_ and she almost lost her shoe and her balance, it had crossed her mind. She's not sure she's weak for considering it, or brave for continuing anyway. Either way, she can't stop shaking from fear. It's making it rather difficult to climb properly.

"Wow, that's a lot of wind! No big deal, right? You can do this, Lady Occhako. You're doing great!"

She smiles. It was quite shocking that Katsuki and the others had actually listened when she'd forbade them to come along. Of course she hadn't thought to forbid Eijirou, and she hadn't realized he was following her until she was near halfway up. By then, most of her regal air was gone, and all she could do was ask him nicely.

"Leave you?" he'd demanded incredulously. "Up here? A little lady like you? By yourself? If I did that, I'd lose my reputation as a gentleman, and then what would I be? Nothing. I'd be nothing, Lady Occhako. For my own selfish sake, I must accompany you."

Now, for the eighth time, she says, "Please call me Occhako."

"I'm a gentleman, my lady, you ask too much."

She stops climbing. "Eijirou," she whispers. "Please call me Occhako."

She can't explain her need for him to be familiar with her, the same need she'd felt towards Tsuyu and Hitoshi. But they had both been more than willing to call her without honorifics. They touch her with the familiarity of old friends, long reunited. She rarely has to voice her feelings to them, they're all so in tune. Even Katsuki and Tenya are in sync with her. But Eijirou refuses to be. He's going out of his way to be extra formal, extra distant, and it's causing her soul a fair amount of grief, that one of its pieces doesn't want to even try to reunite with the rest. She knows he can feel it, but he won't react in any way.

He's silent for a moment. Then, "We should keep going if we want to get back before dark, Lady Occhako."

A tear slips out before she can stop it. She can't wipe it away without letting go of the cliff, and she's too afraid to do that. Tokoyami clutches at her hair and kisses her cheek, wiping it away for her. She's never loved a squirrel more in her life.

She's still for long enough that she can feel Eijirou's calm start to fray. "Lady Occhako?"

She takes a deep breath, and another step.

The rest of the climb is harrowing. She loses her balance several times, more and more often as she gets closer to the cave. Eijirou inches closer each time, like he wants to help, but restrains himself, like he knows she can do it on her own. She finds comfort in that, his blind faith in her.

She struggles into the cave, small as it is, she can barely fit. And there they are. The flowers. Blue and beautiful. She grabs a handful and stuffs them down the front of her dress. Tokoyami helpfully stuffs one in his mouth. She laughs.

"I don't think we can use it for healing if you eat it, silly." The squirrel scowls at her playfully, burrowing back into her cloak.

There's no room for her to turn around, so she has to step backwards out of the cave with great care. As it turns out, she's not careful enough.

She's already falling when she hears a blood-curling, " _Occhako_!" The sound tears at her heart in a way she doesn't think can be fixed, and she reaches blindly towards it, trying to comfort. _Don't be afraid._

And then she's not falling anymore.

Tokoyami is squeaking and screaming for several seconds before he seems to realize this, something which would bring her great amusement if she weren't absolutely terrified. Eijirou's hand wraps around her wrist like a vice.

_Bring me flowers. Without help._

She doesn't allow herself to think about that right now. If it wasn't for Eijirou, she'd be dead. She ought to thank him.

"You called me Occhako," is what comes out of her mouth instead.

The skin around his eyes is tight with fear. She wonders if some of her fear is his. She wonders if some of his fear is hers.

"So I did," he murmurs, so soft she wouldn't know what he'd said if she couldn't read his lips, and pulls her up.

 

~*~*~

 

The first thing she does after pulling the flowers out of the front of her dress (and scandalizing Tsuyu) is own up to her mistake.

"Eijirou helped me," she tells the pirates. "I didn't do it on my own."

Eijirou starts to say something. She cuts him off. "So I'll do it again! On my own this time!"

Her dragons stare at her in horror. The leader stares at her in amusement.

Then, to her surprise, he smiles. His teeth are sharp like his eyes. "If there ever comes a day when Kirishima Eijirou doesn’t help someone in need, I'll kick his ass myself."

Eijirou looks offended. "I would never!"

"Exactly. I raised you better than that." The pirate takes the flowers from her, pats Tokoyami on the head, and turns to walk away. "Call me Aizawa. Welcome to my crew, Occhako. I hope you're ready to break some laws and crack some skulls for the greater good."

_He's dead, he's dead, he's--_

Oh, she's more than ready.

 

~*~*~

 

When Aizawa reveals the plan to allow Occhako to be kidnapped so they can find out where the other kidnapped girls are and rescue them, her dragons are shocked. When Occhako readily agrees to allow herself to be kidnapped so they can find out where the other kidnapped girls are and rescue them, they riot.

Aizawa merely raises an eyebrow. "Are they always this dramatic?"

"You don't know the half of it," she mutters. Beside her, Hitoshi sighs in agreement. At least she has one sane dragon.

Eijirou, though she's not quite sure when or how, has joined the Stop Occhako From Doing Suicidal Things Squad, alongside Tsuyu and Tenya, lead by Katsuki. Tokoyami sits on his head, squeaking wholeheartedly. She rolls her eyes. She has to put a stop to this.

"Hitoshi," she murmurs, and he smiles behind his mask.

The pirates watch with great interest as Hitoshi takes them by surprise and throws them all in the sea. Aizawa hums. "Quiet and loyal. I like that one."

"They're all loyal," she says. "To a fault. The problem is they're not all quiet about it."

Aizawa laughs.

Once they're all calmed down enough to accept her decision, Tenya volunteers to go with her. Actually, they all volunteer to go with her, but Tenya is the only one who can actually pass as a girl. She knows this because they all put on dresses, wigs and makeup, and while Tsuyu actually is a girl, her dragon arm isn't exactly normal. Katsuki and Eijirou are too tall and muscular, and they need someone small and fragile looking, someone that doesn't look like they'd put up much of a fight. If they look like too much trouble, they might not attract the kidnappers' attention. Hitoshi is too busy laughing to try dressing up at all.

She hadn't realized before how small Tenya is. He has such a large presence that she never noticed, but he's the same height as she is, and his strength is more in his thin but calloused hands than his arms and legs. His features are more delicate then the others', and without his glasses, he can barely see, but he can also pass very well for a demure lady. The apples, aka his fake boobs, do help a great deal.

Most men would be insecure about that, she supposes, but Tenya rubs it in Katsuki and Eijirou's faces like it's the best possible thing.

 

~*~*~

 

("What do I have to do to stop you?" Katsuki murmurs fiercely, pressing her against the smooth rocks of the cliff. "What can I say to change your mind?"

"You can't," she tells him firmly, and walks away. She feels his heartbreak, it courses so strongly through her veins so that she can't tell if it's his or hers, but she doesn’t turn around.)

 

~*~*~

 

(He licks the honey off her fingers, more kissing at her hands than anything, but her face still goes red. This isn't a Katsuki she knows, and he seems to realize he's gone too far. When he starts to apologize, she runs. She doesn't want him to be sorry for this. A part of her whispers _, it feels so_ right, _to be so close to him. Go back. Go back._

That part scares her immensely. From that moment on, it only gets louder.)

 

~*~*~

 

Endeavor shoves her face against the wooden floor of the ship, dark and smelling of blood, urine and fear, and she is furious.

How long have these girls been down here? How long have they been suffering, afraid, knowing that no one will come looking for them, because this sort of thing happens so often that they're used to it? How many girls have been down here before them, knowing the same thing?

She has half a mind to kill this man right here and now, but she knows that if she fights now, all these girls will suffer. She has to wait. She has to wait.

But for a split second, her fury overwhelms her, and it spills through her eyes, burning into Endeavor. She can't hide it well enough.

He takes a step back, letting her go. "You know," he scowls, scratching his beard. "Doesn't the Princess Occhako have hair like yours?"

And she thinks, this is it. He's found them out. Behind her, Tenya clenches his fists, ready to step in and protect her. It's awful, she thinks, that he's not even one of her dragons, technically, and yet she feels soul-bound to him, and she knows he feels the same. It's awful that he would die to protect her without thinking. It's awful that any of them would. It's awful enough that she swallows her pride and lays her forehead on the floor.

"I can be the princess," she says, shaking, "if that's what my lord desires."

Tenya is staring at her in shock. She's shocked at herself. But Endeavor seems to relax, because he huffs and turns away, muttering about hallucinations, and the door closes behind him. She sits up slowly, Tenya rushing to her aid.

"You were saying?" One of the girls demands. She looks thin, too thin. She glares at them with mistrust in her eyes. "We can't escape from them. We're nothing but livestock. There's no way."

But there's a sliver of hope in her eyes, in the eyes of every girl here, and that's enough for Occhako. "What's your name?"

The girl squints. "Mina."

"Mina." She adopts her regal air, watches the way that the girls' stares shift slightly, from fear to awe, and thinks, _I will not leave them here, not a single one of them_. "How would you like to go home?"

 

~*~*~

 

They make it out of the cramped cabin easily enough. It's when they get caught by passing guards making their rounds that things get troublesome.

She's thankful for Mina in that moment, who had stopped them when they'd passed by a room with weapons and said, "We're gonna need these." They had initially planned to wait until the man lingering inside left, but Tenya decided he was taking too long, and threw one of his boob apples at the man's head, knocking him out. Mina was still laughing about it.

"I knew you weren't a girl," she had said. "You practically scream _beautiful boy genius_." Tenya was still basking in that comment.

Mina had agreed to at least show them the way to the deck. She and Occhako had both grabbed a bow and some arrows, and smiled at each other. Tenya had rolled his eyes at them and taken a sword. The other girls, at first tentative, but slowly beginning to assert themselves, had chosen a variety of weapons. One took a pair of nunchucks, another a morning star. Occhako had wondered if they knew how to use them, or if they just picked those because they looked cool. As it turns out, they're actually quite proficient with their weapons of choice.

Mina, she discovers, is vicious. A man grabs her from behind, and she stabs him in the eye with one of her arrows. Occhako aspires to be like her.

"Go!" One of the girls shouts. "We'll hold them off!"

Occhako hates to leave them like this, but Tenya grabs her wrist and yanks her through the fray. They duck past a girl with a mace, eyes filled with vengeance, slamming it into a man's head with a sickening crunch that gives Occhako more satisfaction than she's comfortable admitting. These are awful people. They deserve this.

 _"I won't tell you to kill or not to kill,"_ Aizawa had said. _"But if some…unfortunate event would befall a few human trafficking, deadly-drug selling, child murdering folk, well, that can't quite be helped, can it?"_

His smile had been terrifying. She'd never respected someone more.

They reach the deck relatively unhindered. Once, a man had come at them with a sword, and been hit in the stomach with nunchucks. Occhako really wants to learn to use those.

They're running towards the edge of the ship, Tenya already reaching in his dress for the flare signals, when someone grabs her, lifting her up and tearing her hand away from Tenya's. It startles her enough that she drops her bow and all her arrows, all but one.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Tryin' to escape, are we?" His mouth is right next to her ear. She can smell his rotten breath. She can feel her hand tighten around her last arrow. She remembers what Mina had done.

All of her strength goes into that arrow. She hears the _squish_ as it penetrates his eyeball and shoves harder, trying to get in as far in as possible. This is what she should've done to Monoma, had she been brave enough. Had they not been friends once. But it hadn't even crossed her mind. She thinks if she had done this then, rather than cut off her hair, they might not be where they are now. Then she decides that it doesn't matter.

His grip on her loosens, his screams in her ear making her wince, and she stomps hard on his foot. He releases her, and she sees Tenya is on the floor. He's been pinned, a sword at his throat, but he reaches out to her anyway, the flare signal in his hand. She runs to him, grabbing the flares, and pivots on her heel, not allowing herself to look back at him.

The guards reach for her. She's never moved this fast in her life, but then, she's never been this motivated before. She doesn't have time to fumble with matches, so she thrusts the flares into the lantern on the ship wall.

A hand closes on her sleeve, and the flares catch fire.

Time herself stops and stares at the fireworks bursting in the sky. They're bright, and beautiful, and full of triumph. From down below, the sounds of fighting give way to victorious screams. Hopeful screams. And Occhako thinks, _we've already won. Whether we live or die here tonight, we've already won._

She's thrown to the ground. In her hand are the charred pieces of the flares, still somewhat alight. She lunges upwards at her attacker and shoves them in his face. He backhands her, but she clutches at his hair to keep herself upright. Another guard grabs her by the waist and hauls her away from him. She pulls clumps of the man's hair with her, thrashing and screaming incoherently. She thinks she might be damning them all to hell, or possibly outlining all the awful things she's going to do to them, and to Endeavor. She catches a glimpse of Tenya, grappling with a guard, kicking at another one. Footsteps thunder up the stairs. She doesn't know if it's more guards, or the girls coming up to help them. She's too preoccupied to care.

A guard grabs her hair and yanks her head back. She surges towards him, snagging his earlobe with her teeth and biting down hard. The guard that's still holding her yanks her backward, and she brings half an ear with her. A guard raises his sword like he's going to swing it at her and she spits the ear in his face. He stares at her with a sort of dawning horror, and she takes the opportunity to kick him in the gut, and bite the arm of the guard still holding her. He drops her like a hot potato, cursing. A few feet away, the guard that Tenya's kicking at draws his sword.

Her mind blanks and then she's there, catching the sword with her hands because she has nothing else, and all she can think is _don't hurt him don't you fucking hurt him_.

And then a shadow falls over her, and the guard drops the sword. She watches it clatter to the floor. Behind her, Eijirou growls, "Get your hands off them."

The one grappling with Tenya snaps, "Make me." By the time she turns around, Eijirou has made him.

Her green dragon glances at her hands worriedly. "Are you okay?"

She nods, clenching her bleeding hands into fists. This is nothing. "Tenya?"

He's staring at her with something akin to awe. "You're a _dragon_ ," he says. Beside him, Eijirou laughs.

"I would not follow her if she were not," he murmurs, and then launches himself at the guards.

"Tenya, are you sure you're okay?" Her hand hovers over a nasty cut on his forehead.

"Anything I got, you got worse." He smiles, covering her hand with his. "You're really cool, you know that?"

She laughs to mask her tears. She wonders if that's the reason he laughs, too.

"Princess!" Katsuki calls, and she looks up to see him striding towards her, Hitoshi behind him, blades already stained with blood. They must've run into other guards while boarding the ship. Katsuki's gaze lands on her hands, and his face changes, but then cries of "He's getting away!" get her attention, and she doesn't have time to study him. "Endeavor," she whispers with dawning horror. They haven't seen him since before they broke out of the cellar.

She runs to the side of the ship, leaning over to see. Endeavor is there, in a boat.

Next to her, on the ground, are her fallen bow and arrows. But she doesn't have a clear shot from here.

Eijirou's form _whooshes_ above her, going towards Endeavor. The drug lord shouts something at one of his men, who lifts a bow and takes aim, and her world shudders to a stop.

" _Eijirou!"_ she screams, but she's not fast enough. The arrow slams into some part of him, she can't see, and he falls into the water.

She scoops up the bow and arrows.

"Occhako-" Tenya starts, but she completely ignores him and climbs up on the side of the ship. She can see Endeavor laughing his little laugh, in his little boat, surrounded by his little men. A clearer shot. She takes it.

 

~*~*~

 

Eijirou won't meet her eyes. When he'd come up from the water, gasping for air, she'd been so relieved she thought she would cry. On some level, she'd known, deep in her soul, that he wasn't dead yet, but seeing him, alive and breathing, being pulled up out of the water by Tsuyu, is reassuring. Katsuki comes stomping up to her, grabbing her hands with uncharacteristic gentleness. She winces. Hitoshi wraps his fur coat around her shoulders and Eijirou thanks her for saving his life without looking up from the ground, and that's the last clear memory she has until she runs into Izuku.

She'd forgotten about him. What with her dragons, and the pirates, and the drug operation, she hadn't thought about him at all. She feels both inexplicably guilty and triumphant about that.

He stares at her like he's not so much surprised to see her here as he is to see her looking so… _alive_. And she has never felt so alive, not in all the time she ever spent in that palace. _How sad is it_ , she wants to say, _that strangers from all around the world gave me life and purpose and this feeling of absolute contentment, all the things I had thought lied at your feet? How sad is it that ten minutes of our lives that you thought would destroy me, didn’t, because of them?_

"Is this a dream?" he whispers, voice cracking like her heart. "I heard you died, on a cliff…"

Her voice doesn't work. Her mouth doesn't move. Her gaze lowers to the cobblestones, her father's dead body swimming in her vision. Her mind wonders vaguely if he cried when he heard. If he was even sad at all.

He's so clearly looking for familiarity in her features that it hurts because she finds herself doing the same. His hair is still wild, his freckles are still adorable. She wonders if anything about her looks familiar to her now.

"You really are Occhako, aren't you." It's not a question. She doesn’t think she would answer even if she could.

"Why are you here? What happened to Katsuki?" Then he shakes his head at himself. "No…you're safe and sound. He's probably protecting you with his life, even now, just like I'd hoped he would."

She jerks her head up, eyes wide. There's a tiny, sad smile on his lips. They stare at each other until horses and footsteps thunder down the pathway from behind him.

She comes back to herself all at once. If Izuku is here then so are his men. She can't be seen by them, she has to go.

He grabs her wrist and tucks her beneath his cloak. She can't breathe. His sword is right there. In its sheath. Under his cloak. Inches from her hand. She could kill him right here, right now.

Someone is talking to him. Something about how they're here incognito and the King of Kouka should have better impulse control. _Impulse control_. If only they knew. Izuku is not at all the carefree, cheerful boy most write him off as, though he likes to pretend. He has the patience of saints and a protective streak a mile wide.

 _Just like me_.

The realization brings her up short, fingers mere millimeters away from the hilt of his sword, gives him enough time to grab her hand beneath the cloak. She's missed her chance. She wonders idly what she would have done, had their roles been switched. Would she have killed the king, and stolen the throne? She can't say that she wouldn't have. How can she truly hate him, knowing that she could see herself doing exactly as he did?

"I have a report," a man says. She recognizes his voice from her palace days. From when he stood behind Izuku and told him to kill her. She can't recall his name. "Apparently the pirates just killed Endeavor last night while he was in the middle of a transaction with the Kai Empire, freed the girls he'd intended to sell, and confiscated the drugs."

"And how are the people?" Izuku's voice is older, farther away than she's ever heard him be. He sounds like a king. _Heavy is the head,_ she thinks with vindictive satisfaction. Then it hits her: her father had never used this voice. He had always been peaceful and pleasant. Strong, in his own quiet way, but never like this. He had never even suggested that the people were more important than the peace. Why does Izuku sound like more of a king to her than her father ever did?

"They're safe. The pirates are getting them all drunk, so it's kind of hard to say right now."

"That's good. The people weren't hurt." And then just like that, the heaviness in his voice is gone and he's bemused again. "We'll have to thank the pirates."

"Ugh," the man says with the tone of someone who's just been granted a troublesome task.

"Who will be Endeavor's successor?" Izuku mutters. "Was the Kai Empire the only customer he had? Where will the addicts turn to get more drugs?" She can tell he's starting to fall into that habit of his, that she had always found incredibly endearing.

"Who cares," the man interrupts before Izuku can get any further. "Certainly not you, running around flirting while we're supposed to be here on business."

"I'll say goodbye properly, so wait over there."

"Do it quickly," the man snaps, and footsteps thunder away, but Izuku doesn't move until they're out of earshot. With him no longer holding the cloak, it falls away easily, sliding off her shoulders. His hand, though. It stays. She doesn't let go, and so neither does he.

"Do you want to kill me?" he asks, and she doesn't have an answer. Her father, she knows, never came down to try to stop the drug selling or the human trafficking, despite the fact that he had known. He must have known. He was the king. And yet that was one of the first things that Izuku did the moment he took the throne. He came to help the people. Isn't that the point of being king?

She's already killed someone, so she knows that she can, but this is different. Endeavor deserved it. And she's not so sure anymore that Izuku does.

"I wouldn't blame you if you did," he murmurs. "But I can't die right now. There's something I have to do first."

He starts to step away. His fingers slip through hers. She panics and grabs at them tightly. The look he gives her then is startled. Afraid. Hopeful. Emotions she's never seen on his face before. She doesn't know what it means that she can see them now.

"What is it?" she demands. "What do you have to do?"

He'd clearly been expecting her to curse him out and try to kill him. It's gratifying to see him so thrown. His mouth curves upwards. "I have to save the people," he says matter-of-factly.

She nods, letting his fingers fall from hers. "So do I."

For a moment, they smile at each other. All Might's face swims behind her eyelids and she blinks him away. _He's dead now. Revenge won't help the people. Time to move on._

"Good luck," he tells her, and it might be her imagination but he seems like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He relaxes a bit, not much, but a little bit, and his smile turns a little warmer, and he feels a little closer to the Izuku she thought she knew. Maybe he's not all gone yet. Maybe a little of him is still here. "I would tell you to say hello to Kacchan for me, but I'm not sure how he'd take it."

"Violently," she knows, "with many explosions and much murder."

He laughs a little, and then he squeezes her fingers gently, and walks away.

"Good luck!" she calls after him belatedly, and he glances over his shoulder to smile at her. And then he's gone, and she's still standing there, staring after him.

There are footsteps. She feels them thud through the air, feels it in the cobblestones. Loud, angry footsteps. Katsuki. She has to tell him. How is she going to tell him? She can't tell him. She has to tell him.

_It's going to hurt him. It's going to crush him. He's going to go after Izuku and I can't let him and it's going to kill him._

Her knees feel weak, and she slides to the ground, burying her face in her hands. Her face feels warm and wet and she can't breathe and she _can't tell him_.

She's never had something she couldn't tell Katsuki before. There are plenty of things she _chose_ not to tell him, but she's always known that she could, if she wanted to.

"Princess!" he calls to her, but she's too busy sobbing her heart out to answer. She wonders if she even has to say anything for him to know at all.

 

~*~*~

 

The pirates come to see them off. Eijirou is nowhere to be seen.

"I wanted to say goodbye to him," she mutters, trying to hide how upset she is. Judging by the knowing glint in Aizawa's eye, she's failing miserably.

The pirate leader hands her flowers. The very same flowers she'd climbed a cliff to get. "You earned these, kiddo. Take them."

She shakes her head, eyes wide. "No, I can't--"

He takes her hand, places the flowers in it, and closes her fingers around them. "You earned these."

If her smile is a little watery, so is his. Neither of them comment on it.

She hands them to Tenya to keep with the rest of their medicine and shoulders her bow and arrows. And then they're walking away, her and Katsuki and Tenya and Tsuyu and Hitoshi, and it feels like she's leaving something behind. Not Eijirou. She feels him close by, although she can't say where. Maybe he will come say goodbye after all.

She looks over her shoulder at them one last time, the unruly pirates, and Aizawa, and she can't help herself.

She runs back, dropping her bow and arrows, and throws her arms around Aizawa. From the way he stiffens, she thinks she might've crossed a boundary, but then he relaxes and hugs her back. He sighs at her tears.

"It's not like we're dying. Come back and visit us."

She pulls back, wiping her tears away, and nods vigorously.

 

~*~*~

 

They find Eijirou relatively easily, about ten minutes after they leave the pirates. She's complaining about how she didn't get to say goodbye, and Tsuyu rolls her eyes, reaches up with her dragon arm and knocks him out of a tree.

"He's been following us the whole time," Hitoshi murmurs. "We thought you knew."

And now that she thinks about it, maybe she did. In any case, she's elated that he's decided to join them.

"I'm only here to protect Lady Occhako from your insanity," Eijirou says with great dignity. "Also in case you change your mind about letting me have Katsuki."

Katsuki screams incoherently at him while turning an alarming shade of red. She smiles. She's found three dragons now. Only one left. They don't seem so far away.

 

~*~*~

 

"Excuse me."

Everyone looks up from making camp to stare at a girl with long black hair and a gentle disposition. She says, "Might I share your food?"

Something about her whispers to Occhako that they can trust her. She nods to Tenya, and he dishes her some. The dragons and Katsuki huddle a fair distance away. Tsuyu waves to her and Tenya, and they approach carefully, with furtive glances at their newest guest, but the girl is too wrapped up in her food to notice.

"Have you felt anything from her?" Eijirou asks.

Truthfully, the girl's aura is familiar, like Occhako could just sit next to her in comfortable silence for hours and never feel ill at ease. She feels like an old friend, a close one, she feels like…

"She's the yellow dragon." The moment she says it out loud she knows it's true.

Hitoshi's nodding. Tsuyu looks amazed. "How can you tell?"

_She feels like part of me. She feels like coming home. She feels like one of you._

"I just know," is what she settles on. Turning back to the girl, she calls, "Yellow Dragon."

Katsuki hisses at her to _wait a second_ , but her dragon just looks up from her food. "Yes, my lady?"

She shakes her head. "Call me Occhako."

A small, shy smile. "Alright."

It's incredibly endearing, and makes her smile back. "What's your name?"

The yellow dragon sets down her food and stands, giving a tiny bow. "Call me Momo."

 

~*~*~

 

"What do you hope to accomplish?" Momo asks, sitting on the floor of Tensei's house, looking every bit like she belongs there, and she's so serious that Occhako is a little afraid. "What is it that you gathered us dragons for? You got kicked out of your castle, so if you just wanted to survive, that's understandable. Do you want to run away forever?"

"No--"

"Do you want to bring world peace?"

Occhako shakes her head. "No, but--"

"Then," Momo says quietly. "Do you want to overthrow Izuku, who killed your father and stole your title as Queen, and take back your throne and your kingdom?"

Occhako goes very still. Because she can't say that thought had never crossed her mind. Tokoyami makes the small leap from Hitoshi's shoulder to Occhako's and nuzzles her cheek.

"That's impossible!" Tenya cries. "Even the four dragons can't overthrow an entire kingdom."

"It's not about can or can't. It's about whether we want to or not."

Occhako stares at her, at a loss for words, but Momo isn't done.

"Besides, if we four dragons use our powers seriously, it won't be impossible for us to take down one castle."

Beside Occhako, Katsuki nods in agreement.

They've been traveling together for a few weeks now, all the way back to see Tensei in the hopes of some guidance, and never once has Momo acted this way. Her shock must show on her face, because Momo sighs, stands up, and crosses the small room to take Occhako's hands. "I don't mean to frighten you, and it really doesn't matter _why_ you came to find us, but you must know the reason. To do things without a reason to behave like a child, and you're so much better than that."

She's so earnest, and Occhako knows that she's right, but she truly doesn't know.

"Even so." Momo leans over and rests her forehead against Occhako's for a moment. "I chose to follow you. I'll follow you no matter what you decide to do."

 

~*~*~

 

"I wasn't expecting Momo to rip into Occhako like that," she hears Eijirou say, and she stops just inside the house to listen.

"It's not that I haven't thought about it," Tsuyu murmurs, so low Occhako can barely hear. "But, she just lost her father, and I felt it was too soon to be asking these kinds of questions. She can barely protect herself."

"It's not just about taking down Izuku," Eijirou muses. "Just because he betrayed Occhako doesn't mean he's not what the rest of this country needs. In order to take it back she'd need the approval of the five generals. Putting a sixteen year old girl on the throne? That's too reckless."

"Katsuki, you were close with Izuku, right?" Tsuyu asks, and Occhako can _feel_ his sudden inner turmoil. "What was he like?"

"Beats me," Katsuki snaps, and she hears him walk away.

"He was…really close with the new king, wasn't he?" Hitoshi asks softly. No one answers.

 

~*~*~

 

She's sitting by the lake near Tensei's house when he comes to see her.

"I thought I'd find you here," Tensei says, seating himself next to her. "Are you still thinking about what Momo said earlier?"

He studies her face. "Ah, but you look like you already know the answer to her question, don't you."

"I always thought our country was a peaceful one," she whispers, watching her reflection ripple in the gentle waves. "My father only wanted peace, I thought that's what we had. But now that I'm out here, I see that's not it at all. No one is happy here. The people aren't treated well. The country isn't peaceful at all. And it hurts, because they've been suffering while I was hiding away in a _palace_ of all places. Because I was too weak to look around me and realize what was going on. I didn't want to realize. I didn't want to know. But now I do. And there are people here who care about others, they've been reaching out their hands to help people in need. When people don't have enough strength, someone else comes up to give them some."

She looks up at him. "I want to be one of those people, Tensei. I want to give strength to others. I want to protect them."

"There are many other towns like the one you saved," he murmurs, a small smile gracing his lips.

She nods, pleased that he's not trying to talk her out of it. "I'm not going back to the castle. I can't help anyone from there. I'm going to stand here on the ground, and fight for those who can't fight for themselves."

It's a little terrifying, she admits to herself. But she's not alone in this. She has her dragons, and she has Tenya, and she has Katsuki. And she will not let gravity bring her down.

 

_fin~_

 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on [tumblr](http://rest-in-bees.tumblr.com) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/Zane429) or here, anything is cool really


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